Agar-agar-cascara product.



To all whom it may concern:

rmrrnn smarts manna 'orrrca.

ADOLPH SCHMIDT, F DRESDEN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR T0 CHEIVITSCHE FABRIK HEL-FENIBERG, A. G., IE'QEMERLY EUGEN DIETEBICH, A CORPORATION OF GERMANY.

AGAR-AGAR-CASCARA PRODUCT.

No Drawing.

Be it known that I, AnoLPH SCHMIDT, a

" subject of the Emperor of Germany, and a resident of the city ofDresden, Germany, have invented a certain new and usefulAgar-Agar-Cascara Product, of which the following is a Specification.

The utility of the product of my present invention is its use as aremedy or medicine for constipation.

The product comprisesa mixture of two substances, agar-agar and cascarapreferably.

The agar-agar of the product is in dry or ungelatinized form. It ishighly preferable that the cascara should be in solid, rather than inliquid form, since otherwise the tendency will be to' cause prematuregelatinization 'of the agar-agar, that is to say, gelatinization beforethe material is taken into the alimentary tract. Such prematuregelatinization is disadvantageous for the same reason that agar-agar inthe form of a jelly,-decoction or soup is ineffective to produce theresults of the product herein even though same were to be mixed withcascara. The reason for this is that agaragar jelly and agar-agardecoctions are absorbed in the alimentary tract and accordingly havebeen eaten as a food from time immemorial. Wh'ereas, dry ungelatinizedagar-agar is not absorbed in the digestive tract and accordingly arrivesin the large intestine in a still solid condition, although somewhatgelatinized. Here the gelatiniz'ation is completed, but still withoutloss of the solid nature of the mass. The agar-agar particles orgranules become Wet, slippery, soft, swollen masses which mixing withthe feces increase their bulk and lubricate both the fecesand the 'wallsof the bowel. The effect of said admixture is to bring the contents ofthe bowel to the, moist, slippery condition and to a bulk approachingthat of normal feces. The importance of this will be. evident when theknown fact is borne in mind that in constipated persons there is foundan abnormal moisture-extracting function in the bowel which causes thefeces to assume a comparatively dry, hard condi- ,tion of diminishedbulk and which largely accounts for the fact of the constipation onaccount of the difliculty of expelling the ,material' in such condition.

The cascara arriving with the agar-agar Specification of Letters Patent.

Fatented Dec. 14L, 319699.

Application filed October 10, 1906. Serial No. 838,271.

in the large intestine here. exerts its laxative property and stimulatesperistaltic activity of the muscular walls of the bowel to expel thefeces. This is of course the normal action of cascara, but it is themerit of the present product that gelatinous masses of agar-agar in thefeces greatly increase the effective power of the cascara to evacuatethe bowel contents. This is so because cascara in cases of chronicconstipation acts if at all at a great mechanical disadvantage because,first, the dry hard feces present much frictional resistance againstbeing progressed through the bowel; and second, because being scanty inbulk they donot fill the cross-section of the bowel and are not properlygrasped by it even under violent peristaltic action. For these reasonscascara administered alone even in strong doses is inadequate in casesof chronic constipation. Whereas combined with agar-agar such casesyield to easy treatment because the gelatinous masses of agar-agar inthe bowel do away with the mechanical disadvantages under which cascaraadministered alone labors. In fact the cooperation between the twoingredients is so effective that the dose of cascara can be limited tojust enough to produce gentle peristalsis.

The agar-agar used in making up the herein described product may consistof the ordinary straw-like form brokenup into fragments. These mixedwith the cascara, and either administered in loose bulk or in acompacted mass as a tablet, are well adapted to form the herein product.The dose will depend on the condition of the user and may vary from agram or so up to twenty-five grams or more per day. The manner ofpreparation of the new product may vary widely, also the proportions ofthe ingredients. However, one simple formula givinggood results is tomix together one part of solid extract of cascara with fifty parts'ofdry granular agar-agar.

It will be noted that the new product comprises a mixture of agar-agarand cascara ingredients. The agar-agar ingredient being in dry,ungelatinized form and having the property of slowly gelatinizing atbody temperatures, typified by 98 F., in water and the digestive juices.of the alimentary tract without liquefaction; and that accordingly itdoes not lose its solid condition in its passage through the body, buton the contrary becomes merely gelatinous. Whereinternal remedy,comprising ungelatinized 10 as the other ingredient of the product mayagar-agar and a laxative.

be described broadly as a laxative. Inwitness whereof I have signed myname Having thus described my invention, What to this specification inthe presence of two I claim is: subscribing Witnesses.

. 1. A product adapted to be taken as an ADOLPH SCHMIDT.

internal remedy, comprising. a dry mixture In presence of ofungelatinized agar-agar and cascara. J OHANNES WULF,

2; A product'adapted to be taken as an HEINRICH EHLERS.

